Al Zamny stresses need to tackle deficit

The Tunisian economist Belhassan Al Zamny, said that several factors have contributed to the rise of financial crimes, in Tunisia, including the failure to keep pace with the developments of banking system at global level.

The expert pointed out in an interview with Arabs Today that many indicators after the revolution of January 2011 was confirming the high level of money laundering, adding that real estate speculation is one of the most prominent signs of the spread of dirty money in Tunisia.

Al Zamny believes that geopolitical situation of the region serves the interests of smuggling and smugglers, pointing out that multiple interfaces of economic activities working for the benefit of money.

Regarding the need for applying positive discrimination by the government, he said that this concept remained vague in the absence of figures, indicators and studies that would break down the concept and set the priorities for each side according to its share of government's expenditure.

Al Zamny said that the absence of a clear vision in government policy and in development plan to set priorities of the country's bodies, led to the volatile situation inside the state, which prompts the government to take urgent and futile decisions that burden the public finances by creating fake jobs to satisfy the protesters.

The application of the principle of positive discrimination, according to the local development expert, requires the disclosure of the actual share of public expenditure and development expenditures, to modify them in a fair manner and then work to distinguish them positively from the study of numbers, indicators and the needs of each body. He added positive discrimination is currently based on responding to demands of protesters, which all of our successive governments fell into the same mistake after the revolution, which led to the waste of large sums of money without benefit.

"While government is looking for a solution to get out of positive discrimination's trap and addressing its deficit by finding sufficient funds to pay for government investment in the regions, marginalized interior provinces continue to express different ways and means to remind their long-term demands," he stated.

Compared to Morocco, he said that the latter has precedence in the African market, especially from the financial side, pointing out that Morocco has financial arms in the African market through its network of banks in a number of countries.

The economist added Tunisia can make economic use to coordinate efforts with Morocco to enter the African market, especially through the financial support that can be provided by Moroccan banks to Tunisian businessmen and economic traders.